Rebuild General Practice is a grassroots campaign. Take a look below to see how LMCs across Britain are advocating on behalf of the profession.
Following the Budget delivered by the Chancellor in late October, uncertainty around the rise in employers' National Insurance contributions have been a key concern for GP practices around the country.
As part of their activation efforts, Wessex LMCs spoke to BBC News about how the hike in National Insurance will affect resourcing that is already stretched to breaking point.
In September, Highland LMC took part in a local action to fight for fairer funding and resources to protect general practice.
Due to the rural geography of the Highlands, NHS Highland relies heavily on general practice to deliver enhanced services to patients in the region. However, with the GP contracts no longer fit for purpose, practices were losing money delivering these services – putting the survival of these practices and patient care at risk.
Following failed attempts over the last six years to renegotiate acceptable terms for their enhanced services contracts, NHS Highland issued a further roll over of the existing contracts in 2023.
Highland LMC informed their members about the full extent of the problems represented by the contracts and eight practices declined to sign the contracts unless fundamental contractual principles and terms were addressed.
Due to the action of these eight practices, secondary care was under even more pressure. Without the GP practices who had been keeping the NHS in the region afloat, NHS Highland had to come back to the table and Highland LMC successfully negotiated fairer terms for their practices. This included adding an annual uplift to the costings of providing enhanced care services, as well as fairer funding for staff time and running costs.
Highland LMC has now developed a model for generating costings for enhanced services in a fairer way and will be sharing this with other LMCs to support their members around contract negotiations. Their action prompted greater recognition among NHS officials in Scotland that general practice has been delivering these services effectively and should be better supported to do so.
Liverpool LMC reached out to Rebuild General Practice to ask for support around a planned presence at Labour Party conference 2024.
We provided advice on attending conference and the best strategy for approaching a ‘protest’ outside the venue, as well as campaign materials and logistical support.
A group of Liverpool based GPs joined us at the Labour Party conference Rebuild GP event to represent the profession and speak to Conference-goers about the crisis in general practice.
Rebuild General Practice provided support to a group of GPs in the West Midlands who organised a march to raise awareness of the crisis in general practice.
The march was attended by over 150 GPs from across the West Midlands and achieved significant coverage in news outlets including BBC News, the Express & Star, Birmingham Live, and Pulse.
It was attended by GPs from Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, North and South Staffordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Telford, Solihull, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire, and Herefordshire.
Dorset LMC met with then-Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting in February 2024.
The Rebuild campaign worked with Dorset LMC to ensure that GPs presented a unified, cohesive, and consistent message.
The now-Health Secretary was extremely pleased with the meeting and said that our retaining the GP workforce and ensuring fair funding within the NHS was being considered seriously within the Labour Party.
In early 2024, Rebuild General Practice ran a campaign encouraging LMCs to write to their local MPs and organise meetings where they could outline the extent of the crisis and let them know what could be done in Parliament to address the ongoing issues.
In Gloucestershire, the LMC met with six local MPs, which eventually led to a meeting with the then-Health Secretary, Victoria Atkins, where they relayed the LMC's message to the Government.
This shows the power of grassroots work, and the impact that one small contribution can have.
In the lead up to the general election, grassroots campaigning took centre stage as candidates focused on winning over constituents. The campaign capitalised on this moment, creating resources for GPs to take a series of actions:
Week 1: Sign our open letter
Week 2: Submit a question to TV debates
Week 3: Attend your local hustings
Week 4: Write to your local candidates
Week 5: Write to your local newspaper
Week 6: Send the open letter to Party HQs
A highlight of this campaigning period was Dr Melinda Crème attending Channel 4’s health debate, ‘NHS in Crisis?’, hosted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy. She spoke directly to politicians on national television about what is needed from government – you can revisit the conversation here.